Dart-shooter attachment for marble-guns.



G. C. KENNEDY.

DART SHOOTER ATTACHMENT FOR MARBLE GUNS.

APPLICATION FILED mAYsl. 1918.

1,292,479.. Patented Ja1 1.28,l919.

Fig. 9.

INVENTOR UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE COLVIN KENNEDY, 0F WATERLOO,

Iow'A.

DART-SHOOTER. ATTACHMENT FOR MARBLE-GUNS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 28, 1919.

Appliqition filed May 31, 1918. Serial No. 237,511.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE COLVIN KEN- NEDY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterloo, in the county of- Blackhawk and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dart- Shooter Attachments for Marble-Guns, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in dart-shooter attachments for marble-guns, and the object of my improvement isto supply a marble-gun with a detachable barrel suitable to extend the marble-gun barrel, and being of a different diameter to fit a dart; the attached dart-shooter barrel giving direction to the dart while centering it against a resiliently-propelled plunger-head in the marble-gun barrel proper, whereby the latter gun may be quickly and easily adapted to shoot darts or arrows, and then the attachment removed to permit of marbles being shot from the marble-gun.

This object I have accomplished by the means which are hereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical central section of my improved combined marble-gun and its detachable dart-shooter attachment Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the dart-shooter attachment as removed from the barrel of the marble-gun; Fig. leis a transverse section of the barrel of said marble-gun taken on the line 4.-4 of said Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrow, and showing the dart-shooter attachment as mounted in said barrel, and Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the plunger-head of the marble-gun part of the device.

In the drawings, similar numerals of reference denote corresponding parts throughout the several views.

The marble-gun part of my improved combination device, is shown and'claimed in its several parts in my pending applications for United States Patents, Serial Numbers 127 ,263 and 196,344, and in such details will not be claimed herein.

The marble-gun shown is formed by stamping from a single piece of sheet-metal and rolled, to provide a cylindrical barrel 5 having depending integral finger-holds 13 an? 15 spaced ,apart, of which the fingerd 13 has a longitudinal slot 14: to serve as a finger-grip. These finger-holds are located the one at the front of the barrel 5 and the other at nearly the middle point of said barrel, so as to not interfere with the operation of the plunger-head by manipulation with the fingers of the user. The barrel has on opposite sides relatively long like longitudinal slots 8 to admit the finger and opposed thumb of one hand of the user. Within said barrel is a plunger-head stamped and formed from a single piece of sheetmetal, and this head 9 of rectangular form is when stamped out of cross-shape, and then has its two longerarms 10 bent over in the same direction at a right angle to serve as guide-members along the upper and lower troughs of the interior wall of the barrel above and below the side-slots 8, to cause the head to maintain its transverse position in the barrel when being operated to propel an object such as a marble, dart or arrow.

The other opposite arms 11 are bent in the same direction as the arms 10, but are brought over to nearly contact with the rear face of the plunger-head supplying sidehooks or clips for end loops of endless rubber-bands 12, located without and at opposite sides of the barrel and used as elastic propellers for said head. In the opposite sides of the forward end of said barrel are the small circular orifices 7 and the other loops of said bands 12 are secured to the barrel at that location by looping to it within these orifices before being connected with the clips 11 on said head. The rear connection of said bands with said clips is best shown in said Fig. 5. The forward part of the barrel 5 has indentations 6 in the numberof four in its inner wall arranged in the same transverse plane and for a purpose to be described.

My improved detachable dart-shooter attachrnent consists of a short open-ended cylinder 1 of less diameter than the cylindrical barrel 5 in order to properly seat a dart or arrow therein. The cylinder or extension-barrel 1 should be but little larger than the dart 16, indicated by dotted lines in said Fig. 1, to give it direction when propelled therefrom.

The extension-barrel part 1 may be stamped from a single piece of sheet-metal distant places longitudinally from one end 'to furnish four spring-like fingers 2, at

which time also the fingers are bent outwardly and offset and upset outwardly slightly at their outer ends, as best shown in said Fig. 3. The rolling thus brings the device into the completed form shown. However, this extension barrel may be otherwise formed in the making and may have its parts differently proportioned, shaped or arranged without departing from my invention, which is the provision of the detachable extension barrel 1 of such a form, dimensions, arrangement and means of connection to the marble-gun barrel 5 as to best serve the purpose of equipping the latter to shoot or propel darts or arrows when said barrel parts are duly connected as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. It will be seen, that in order to connect these barrel parts together, it is merely necessary to push the arms 2 into the muzzle end of the barrel 5, the arms being resilient giving enough to permit them to pass in while fitting the inner wall of said barrel, and extending into said barrel far enough to permit their upset projections 3 to spring into the like formed indentations 6 in the inner wall of the barrel. This causes the barrel part 1 to be detachably secured to the barrel 5 not only by frictional contact with the inner wall of the latter at places not interfering with and clearing the rubberband connections to the barrel, but looks the parts together by the engagements of the upset terminals 5 with said indentations 6. This brings the barrel parts 1 and 5 into true alinement, and prevents accidental displacement of the part 1, but the latter can be removed by a gentle pull thereon outwardly thus springing the arms 2 and slid ing them from the barrel 5. When the barrel part 1 is so connected to the barrel part 5, as indicated in Fig. 1, a dart 16 may be introduced into both and centers its rear end on the center of the plunger-head 9, so as to be propelled evenly by the action of the latter.

The head 9 is drawn rearwardly, by start ing it in pushing back with the dart 16 enough to permit the user to slip opposed thumb and finger through the slots 8 in advance of the head 9 to grasp'the dart body between them, after which the dart and head 9 are pulled back as far as required before releasing, the bands 12 reacting when released and' propelling the dart out of the gun. The barrel part 1 holds the dart central and supports it properly, while giving direction for accurate shooting.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The combination with a marble-gun havlng a hollow barrel, of an extension-barrel detachably connected thereto in alined.

in a plurality of resilient arms placed in frictional binding engagement with the muzzle part of the first-mentioned barrel.

3. The combination with a marble-gun having a hollow barrel, of an extension-barrel of less diameter detachably secured thereto in alinement therewith, said extension-barrel having a plurality of resilient arms there around in frictional engagement with the muzzle-part of said first-mentioned barrel.

4:. The combination with a marble-gun having a hollow barrel, of an extensionbarrel detachably secured thereto in alinement therewith, said extension-barrel being of less interior diameter than the interior diameter of the marble-gun barrel.

5. The combination with a marble-gun having a hollow barrel, of an extensionbarrel detachably secured thereto by overlapping engagement therewith, the interior diameters of said barrels being different.

6. The combination with a marble-gun barrel containing a movable plunger-head, of an extension-barrel to receive and sup port darts in alinement therewith, said extensiombarrel being of less interior" diameter, and having engaging-meansadapted to detachably secure it to the first-mentioned barrel to center a dart within it against said plunger-head.

7. The combination with a marblegun or the like having a hollow barrel, of an'ei'c tension-barrel detachably secured thereto,

and of difl'erent diameter, the first-men tioned barrel having engaging-means, and the extension-barrel having engaging-means, the latter'adapted to detachably engage the former engaging means to secure thesaid barrels together in alinement to center a dart in said extension within the barrel of the marble-gun.

8. The combination with a marble-gun or the like having a hollow'barrel, of aneX- tension-barrel detachably secured thereto and of a less diameter, the first-mentioned barrel having sockets, and the extensionbarrel having members detachably receifv able into said sockets to engage said barrels and place them in alinement.

9. The combination with a marble-gun havinga hollow barrel, a plungerhead movable through said barrel, of an extensionbarrel, said extension-barrel being of less diameter and having integral spring-arms with terminal projections offset therefrom, said first-mentioned barrel having indentations, said spring-arms receivable into the muzzle-end of the first-mentioned barrel with their projections receivable detachably on the muzzle-end of the marble-gun barrel in said indentations to keep the barrel parts in alinement, said extension-barrel having in true alinement. integral projections engaged detachably 10 10. The combination with a marble-gun or with said marble-gun barrel. 5 the like havin a hollow barrel, of an ex- In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

tension-barrel ormed into a hollow cylinder from a single plate and detachably mounted GEORGE GOLVIN KENNEDY.

copiel of thin patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of intents, Wellington, D. 0. 

